One of the principle reasons we went back to Spain this fall was to hold a reunion with some of our missionaries who live there. About 70% of our missionaries were from North America, and most the rest were from Europe, primarily Spain. Most of those European missionaries are scattered around Europe – some of those who are from Spain are living in England or elsewhere, and those from other European nations are generally back in the home countries, but we have a small cluster of missionaries around Madrid that we knew we could meet with.

Like other aspects of our trip, this reunion exceeded our expectations! After four days in Sevilla, we took the AVE to Madrid, arriving on Saturday afternoon in time to get to the temple and meet our missionaries for a session in the Madrid Temple. What fun!

After the temple session, we gathered in a room at the stake center for a “mini zone conference / reunion” and had a wonderful time getting updated on what these remarkable elders and sisters are doing. They are moving forward with their lives in wonderful ways; three of our former elders have “novias,” two of whom joined us for the reunion. Kleuska Mancera traveled from Malaga to be with us, and Daniel Da Silva came in from Badajoz. It is interesting to note that all of the former missionaries either have worked at the CCM (MTC) or currently work there. We are very proud of each of them, and were able to see several of them on Sunday and Monday before leaving Madrid.

Our brief stay in Madrid was wonderful. Saturday night following our missionary reunion, we walked over to the Lidl grocery store near the temple to get some food for the weekend. In the store we met several friends (or friends of friends) – it was like going to Dan’s in Foothill Village on a Saturday night: you are sure to run into someone you know!